Week 2: Finding and reading a paper
◦ See StudyDirect for the names of your tutors
◦ Please remember our first names for submission of
your course work
◦ Only email us for personal issues (e.g. to inform us
of absence etc.)
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1 hour practical Autumn term weeks 2-9
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Please attend allocated sessions or negotiate
a change directly with the Psychology office
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Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
Week
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
Finding and reading papers
Designing a questionnaire
How to write a research proposal
SPSS – data entry and analysis
Excel – how to make graphs
How to write a lab report
How to make a PowerPoint presentation
Lab report Q & A
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Autumn term coursework submissions
◦ Week 6: Research Proposal (based on your
questionnaire study)
◦ Week 9/10: Presentation of questionnaire findings
to your personal tutor (by arrangement with them)
◦ Week 10: Lab report (write-up of questionnaire
findings)
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Course material - Graham Hole’s resources
page:
◦ Google > Graham Hole
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Questions about the course/coursework:
◦ Forum: Study Direct > Research Skills > Forum
◦ Office Hour: (to be announced)
◦ Emails: Do not email tutors directly about
coursework, use the forum.
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The Research Process
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Research Proposals and Lab Reports
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Scientific Writing Style
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Research Proposal – Step-by-Step
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Original Article vs. Textbook
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How to Find a Paper
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How to Read a Paper
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Subject area
Read around the subject
Research question
Design the study
Research proposal
Obtain ethical approval
Conduct the study
Data analysis
Lab report
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Research Proposal
◦ Proposal to do a study
◦ Often written to apply
for funding
◦ Contains title,
introduction, and
method
◦ Written in future tense
(you still have to
conduct the study)
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Lab report
◦ Report of a study that
you have conducted
◦ Resembles structure of
journal articles
◦ Contains title, abstract,
introduction, method
results and discussion
◦ Written in past tense
(you are describing the
results of your study)
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Write concisely
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Write in a formal tone
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Avoid Jargon
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Focus on relevant literature
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Top tip: Read and look at published journal articles to
get an idea of what you should be aiming for
Select a subject area
1.
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Keep it simple
Check availability of literature on topic
Read around the subject
2.
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What has been examined by others?
What were their findings?
Justifying your study
3.
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Find a gap in literature OR
Find contrasting results from different studies
Not so important for this term
Research question
4.
What will you examine in your study?
For this term: Focus on differences between 2
groups (e.g. men vs. women/ meat consumers vs.
vegetarians/ undergraduates vs. graduates/ etc.)
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For example: Do men have different exercise habits than
women?
Developing your hypotheses
5.
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What do you expect to find?
How do you expect that the groups will differ
from each other?
Predictions should be based on previous findings
from other authors (Step 2)
Design the study
6.
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For this term: Questionnaire study
Again, keep it simple
You should be able to test your hypotheses with
the questions you choose to use
We’ll get back to this step next week
From a textbook citation...
“Stanley Milgram’s (1963) study of destructive
obedience highlighted the dilemma facing a person
ordered by an authority figure to perform an immoral
act”
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But why would I want to look at the original?
And if I did, how would I find it?
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I think
Cuddy is
very
intelligent!
One simple reason:
When a textbook/paper
author (or anyone else)
summarises a study,
they can get it wrong...
The more people
between you and the
study, the more chance
something is wrong
Wilson
House
Wilson thinks
you’re
intelligent
...but ugly.
House
Cuddy
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At the end of textbook chapters (or
sometimes the whole book) and journal
articles you will find the reference section
Reference sections are ordered by first
author’s surname:
Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of
obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology, 67(4), 371–378.
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If you know the reference for a paper:◦ Go to the library website:
www.sussex.ac.uk/library
◦ Electronic Library > Online Journals > Type in
journal name > Find the correct volume, issue and
page numbers
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If you want to do a search on a topic:◦ Go to the library website:
www.sussex.ac.uk/library
◦ Electronic Library > Online Resources > Choose
‘PsycARTICLES’ or ‘PsycINFO’ > Simple or Advanced
◦ Electronic Library > QuickSearch
◦ Google Scholar
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Top tip: be specific!
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Papers are laid out
in this order:
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Easier to read them
in this order:
◦ Abstract
◦ Abstract
◦ Introduction
◦ Discussion
◦ Methods
◦ Introduction
◦ Results
◦ Methods
◦ Discussion
◦ Results
◦ References
◦ (References)
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Abstract
◦ Summary of
everything that’s in
the paper
◦ Order: Past research,
methods, results,
conclusions
◦ Approx. 150 words
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Discussion
◦ Summary of purpose
and results
◦ Comparison to
previous research
◦ Possible faults
◦ Wider implications
◦ Future directions
◦ Conclusions
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Introduction
◦ Quick explanation of
research area
◦ Summary of relevant
past research (and
perhaps its flaws)
◦ Purpose of study
◦ Brief description of
methods
◦ Hypotheses
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Methods
◦ Usually split into four
sections:
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Participants
Materials
Design
Procedure
◦ Technical language
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Results
◦ Point-by-point
breakdown of findings
◦ Descriptive statistics
◦ Inferential statistics
◦ The magic word
‘significant’
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References
◦ Don’t need to worry
about these too much
when reading
◦ If you find past
research in the paper
that sounds
interesting, look for a
full citation here
◦ And use your new
skills to find that
paper
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Get into groups of 4
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Pick a topic, e.g.:
◦ Healthy lifestyle (for example):
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Exercise
Smoking
Eating habits
Alcohol consumption
◦ University lifestyles
◦ Environmentally friendly behaviours
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Check with one of us that it’s okay
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Start finding and reading papers about the topic
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Read up to 5 papers on your chosen topic
◦ Try to read the same papers as others in your group
◦ Or read one or two papers and summarise to your
group before next week
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Come to class next week with some ideas for
questions you can ask people
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Keep it simple!
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Next week: Construct the questionnaire in
class